Cherry Limeade
by thejammys
Summary: People bond over the strangest things. Yami/Seto Warn: Rape, etc.
1. My Ass Hurts

BEJ: Ha ha, all right... well. This story is one that I think will go somewhere... since the other two aren't – damn the new process! And curse school for that matter too. I don't know how many people are in high school... but I hate school SO MUCH! I sometimes wonder if ending my misery with a little Celine Dion would be better. But you do what you gotta do to go to college and get away from your family. I don't like my dad... more to the point I hate him. But enough of that! I will get on with the story, because I'm sure that's what you're all here for anyhoo. So – commence with nonsense notes!

Yorou: This story's crap.

BEJ: O.O

Yorou: You did this chapter in 50 minutes, how good could it possibly be. And I mean, look at the old ones, that says something.

BEJ: still O.O

Yorou: ... say something

BEJ: attacks

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

On a particularly rainy day in Domino City, it was the coldest it had ever been. Snow was everywhere, covering everything, and people were ranking up their heat bill from breaking the heater knob in a desperate attempt to keep warm. But hey, that's New York for ya.

But a particular school, in a particular part of town... was the coldest, and still the most excited. For the fact that Winter Break would be starting in less than a week. Most kids were going somewhere with their parents, to visit family, or go skiing – something to that effect. And others were staying home with their family, doing nothing special but celebrating the magic that is Christmas. And for those who didn't celebrate Christmas, they were just looking foreword to 3 weeks of vacation!

However, one group of friends wasn't planning to spend time with their families, but each other. Spending every day of their break huddled up in one of their houses with cups of cocoa, and wrapped up in blankets their moms had knit. Every year it was the same, they hung out and exchanged presents themselves. And every year they took like... 5 rolls of film from their snowball fights, trips to the Trail of Lights, and other various activities. Afterwards, they spent the last few days after New Years just sleeping and relaxing. No one was supposed to call anyone else. It was sleep time, they preferred to be like bears and hibernate.

But this year was going to be a little different. They were planning to drive to a beach somewhere, escape the cold temperatures, and hope to find some sun. The friends were all quite pale... sun was really a necessity.

But there were still 5 days until this fun could begin! Oh the torment!

"Hey Yugi! Get back here!" Joey yelled as he ran across the schoolyard chasing his small friend who was currently in possession of Joey's backpack.

Yugi laughed as he ran further away from the blonde. But Yugi's decision to look behind him and see how close Joey was was not a good choice. He bonked right into someone, who he didn't know the identity of yet. All he knew was that the person let out a squeak when he hit them, and they let out a quiet painful cry when they hit the ground.

Yugi looked up to see what he'd feared.

Seto Kaiba's butt was on the soaking ground, and the boy did not look happy about it. The interesting part though, was that he didn't look mad – as he usually did when he got knocked down – but he looked more in pain. Yugi cocked an eyebrow at him before realizing his current position – sitting on the older boys legs, in other words, keeping him down.

"Kaiba! I'm so sorry! Here, let me -"

Seto brushed his hand away. "It's alright Yugi," he said as he tried to stand up, but only proceeded to slip in the ice he had landed in.

"Kaiba just take my hand," Yugi said, from his fully standing position.

With reluctance, Seto took the young duelists' hand and stood up. But that hurt too. Just standing had become a pain again.

"Damn..." Kaiba muttered.

"What's that?" Yugi asked, assuming that whatever Kaiba had said was directed toward him.

"Nothing," Kaiba said as he started to walk the exact opposite direction of the school.

Yugi just watched him walk away, still with that quirked eyebrow.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Kaiba threw his books down on the table as he entered his mansion. It was freezing outside and he had just run the last of his patience for anything by having to walk home.

"I can't believe my ass still hurts..." he thought to himself.

Just then, a fairy appeared! (Kidding) Mokuba came running down the stairs. That weird happy smile stuck on his face as he ran to hug his brother.

"Hi Seto!" he said cheerfully as his arms wrapped around his big brother's waist. "What're you doing home so early? I thought you had school today,"

Seto smiled at the younger kid. "Yeah, but, I didn't feel like going... something happened. And my conscious said, 'If you go, you will kill someone'. So I figured, why go to jail when I could stay home and watch JAWS?"

Mokuba laughed. He loved it when Seto was sarcastic.

"Anyway, since you don't have school today either, my little virus infested brother, you may do whatever you want – besides go in my room. I prefer not to throw up every twenty minutes," the boy said with a smile.

Mokuba rolled his eyes as he walked toward the kitchen. "I think I've gotten better," the small boy replied, "and besides, you're probably already sick. You're covered in water and snow and I'm perfectly aware that you just walked your sore ass home from some dilemma," the younger brother said with a smirk.

Seto's eyes widened when he heard his brother say that word... ass... "Mokuba, how many times do I have to tell you that cursing is not allowed! And how would you know what happened?"

Mokuba grinned again. "Fear not foolish mortal, for I am Mokuba. I know all, see all, and I know that what you do at school that makes you want to come home is automatically classified as 'dilemma'."

Seto sighed and dropped his shoulders. "Whatever, you don't even know what grades I'm making in Trigonometry," he said in his sleepy voice.

His brother smiled. "That's because I don't care. Now you go to bed," he said as he gave his big brother a little nudge toward the stairs.

Seto did as he was told and walked upstairs to sleep.

"Maybe the pain in my ass'll go away if I nap for a while," Seto thought to himself.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Yugi smiled and gave thanks as he accepted the cup of hot chocolate from his Grandfather. He loved hot chocolate, it made his day not only a little warmer, but it just made him happy to think about. Except when he was sleeping, for some reason, hot chocolate scared the shit out of him when he was trying to sleep – but only if it was raining.

"So Yugi, how was school?" asked Solomon as he sat down with his cup.

Yugi put the mug down and looked at his Grandfather. "I had a fine day, but something happened at the beginning of it that bothered me. In fact, it's still bothering me," he said as he began to look down at his feet.

"Yugi my boy! What is it? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, I think so. It's just... this morning when I was running away from Joey – we were playing tag – I bumped into Kaiba. I completely knocked him down in the snow, and he didn't get mad."

Solomon: O.O "Whoa..."

"I know! But rather than ya know... throwing one of his famous hissy fits... he looked like it hurt. Well, he looked like his ass hurt, when he landed on it..."

"Well Yugi that would make sense... I mean... gravity is a natural force, and all humans feel pain. But then again, I sometimes question as to whether Kaiba really is human or not..."

Yugi sighed and shook his head. "No Grandpa, he said it was 'alright'. There's something going on. Maybe, I dunno. But something is definitely going on."

"Who broke what?" Yami asked as he entered the room.

"Oh hello Yami," Solomon greeted.

"Yami! You must help, Kaiba's acting weird... again..."

"Oh not this again. Yugi, you come to me seeking therapy for him every week,"

"But this time I think he really needs it – his ass is hurting!"

Yami and Solomon: O.O "Um... thank you for sharing..."

"No – I'm serious! You find out what's bothering him! In fact," Yugi paused for a moment. "You invite him to come on the beach trip with us,"

"What?! But no one else is going to want him to come... they're all gonna get so mad at you,"

"That's not important. And I'm sure they'd love for him to come, after all, friendship is our motto. And friendship means learning that sacrifice can be for the best. How could we ever look at ourselves as humans again if we knew that we had left Kaiba here all by himself over Christmas break, much less all alone in pain?!"

"He's not alone, he's got Mokuba,"

"Not now, Mokuba's got a stomach virus and won't stop throwing up," Yugi explained.

Yami sighed. "I'll do what I can Yugi. Just not right now..."

"Fair enough. But tomorrow! You will talk to him,"

"Fine Yugi,"

"Promise?"

"I promise,"

"Promise what?"

"What?"

"What are you promising!?"

"I promise I will talk to Kaiba tomorrow," Yami said smugly.

Yugi smiled. "Good,"

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

BEJ: BWAHAHAHAHAH! So any way, that's the first chapter of many... hopefully...

PLEASE REVIEW (no flaming please... unless it's absolutely necessary )


	2. Not Right

BEJ: Well, thank you all for reviewing the first chapter, I was proud! I LOVE YOU ALL! Even those of you who read but didn't review. Like EVERYONE from the team! growls Chris, I'll get you one day. You tell me to be at your wedding – I'll be in like Cancun or something. And Lauren, well… this is the first time that you aren't my wed manager on something… ooh. This is a little exhilarating. I can finally get mad at you! So Lauren, I'm in the SYTE chat room right now. Come see what I've left for you!

As for Kyle, you can tell Steven what I think about you two. I READ YOUR STORY! And I sent you every one of the media files! Bitches…

Yorou: Well, somebody took an angry pill today

BEJ: OUR TOURNAMENT WAS CANCELED! I'm SO PISSED!

Yorou: We both found something out today

BEJ: That's right, I did a bit of hunting on jani, and boy was I upset!

Yorou: nods

BEJ: I've figured out that there are SO MANY excellent things coming up in the future of Yu-Gi-Oh! and when I say that, I mean that there are great Seto parts and pictures! But I also took a look at the last episode that won't appear until late 2007… MAYBE and only MAYBE early 2008. But I don't like how the series ends! GRAH! I won't spoil it for any of you. If you want to know then you can e-mail me at and I'll e-mail you the link. – AND THERE'S A GIRL THAT LIKES SETO!!!!!!! HE HE!!!!!!!!!!! Our pour little virgin might finally get some action… from someone he welcomes it from… .

Yorou: Another thing being that I upcoming episodes, we will all see how Kaiba signs his name. Well, his signature.

BEJ: YES! It's the cutest thing ever! I love his signature. I love how he does his S's. They're sexy. And the way he whips out a pen! And –

Yorou: Get the story started

BEJ: Yes, yes. I will. Here's chapter two of Cherry Limeade!

Snow surrounded most of the city. It was cold and wet everywhere. Students had a blast throwing snowballs at each other and having Snowmen contests. Who could build the better one I mean…

Joey snickered a little as he molded the ball of snow into a perfect little ball and chucked it at Tristian's unsuspecting head. He shot out laughter as his friend whipped around and growled in protest.

Joey fell back laughing.

"You are so stupid buddy! I mean I told you I was going to –,"

This time it was Tristian who let out the laughter. "That's what I call payback you dumb ass!" he yelled as he gloated in his victory of hitting Joey right in the mouth with his snowball.

Joey growled and lunged at Tristian.

Yugi and Tea came walking up then. "Um… hi,"

Neither of the wrestling boys looked up. They were much too preoccupied with their current predicament. And it looked like Joey owed Tristian a big whopper for making his nose bleed.

Yugi sighed and sat down on the bench. Tea joined him and pulled out her girl magazine. Yugi supposed that he would never understand what joy women could get from looking through a clothing catalogue and pondering what they would bother their parents into buying them for Christmas.

"So which dress do you like better? I need to order one today if I want it to get here in time for the winter formal before break," she said as she displayed a gorgeous green empire wasted satin gown that was roughly under $300. And a crimson red form fitted silk gown from Europe that was instead $450.

"You should get the green one," Yugi replied without much interest.

"You think? I mean… it is really pretty. And it's a hell of a lot cheaper… but it's not really the color I want…"

"Don't they give you a choice of color in the order form?" Yugi asked as he sat up to look her in the eyes. His piercing violet gaze weighing her down.

"You're right… I should just live with this one. It is a cute one," she said with her sad 'please ask me what's wrong' voice.

Yugi sighed realizing what was going on. "Is there anything wrong Tea?" normally, he would have been more than happy to help her out with her effervescent emotional problems, but now he was just so caught up with his concern for Seto and his mysterious problem.

"Well," she said, "it's just that I haven't felt as excited about this year. I'm not so sure if we made the right choice to leave during break. We'll be gone the whole time and I don't want to give up my winter free time. Don't you think we should save something like that for summer?" she asked, looking at him with her best puppy dog eyes. (Which we all know aren't that great and only provoke the Tea Haters more)

Yugi sighed his pitiful sigh and looked to her with seemingly understanding eyes. "Tea, we made hotel reservations over a month ago and to cancel them and our entire trip now would be really stupid. Unless, you need to stay home for something…"

She turned away. "Well… maybe it's something like that. But now is not the place to tell you, and this is definitely not the time," she replied as a snowball came whizzing by her ear – thrown by Joey.

"Sorry 'bout that Tea!" he yelled.

She shook her head and looked back to her 3-foot friend.

"Are you okay though?" asked Yugi, his concern meter kicking in.

"Oh you know… you'll find out later… I suppose,"

Yugi turned away with a sigh. Girls were so hard to figure out, there was never a right place or time. Nothing was ever 'right'. And that's why men started the chain known as 'bars'.

As he looked up though, he noticed another of his kind.

"Kaiba…"

"What was that Yugi?" Tea asked.

"Never mind, I'll talk to you later okay? I gotta go."

"Wait – where are you going?"

But Yugi didn't respond. He was busy chasing after his newfound favorite thing to think about and talk to. "Kaiba wait up!" he yelled with a huff as he ran.

The young boy turned around and cocked an eyebrow. "Is there something I can help you with Yugi?" he asked in an almost sarcastic tone.

"Yes. Well… I was just wondering if you were alright from yesterday. I mean, you looked like you were hurt and you left school early so I was just wondering if you were…"

"That's my business Yugi," was all he would say.

"I know! I know that it's personal and everything…"

Kaiba turned on his heel and started to walk away from the young duelist.

"Kaiba wait please. Just so you know, I'm here for you – we all are. Even the Pharaoh!"

Seto twitched a little at the mentioning of his rival and problem maker. "Whatever Yugi,"

"Kaiba."

"Thanks, but I don't need anyone. I can take care of myself, and I sure as hell don't need the Pharaoh!"

"Whoa man, I know that you don't like him, or me very much. But we do want to be your friend, so you might as well accept that sooner or later, because you know I'll never give up," Yugi said with a smile.

Kaiba's face softened at that. "Fine, but don't think that means we'll be having sleepovers."

Yugi laughed on the inside and smiled. "Fine,"

Kaiba gave a brief smile before turning away.

……………………………………

"Yami have you talked to him yet?" Yugi asked for the millionth time as he poked his Yami in the side until he got an answer out.

Yami growled again and pushed Yugi off away – knocking him off the couch. "Yugi, I'm trying to put my shoes on so that I can go over and talk to him!"

"You know you don't have to get mad. We all know the real reason why you're agreeing to talk to him in private at his house."

"Wha-,"

"You know. You have some kind of weird telepathic thing with him 'cuz he's your rival and you two know all this secret stuff about each other that you won't ever share with anyone else, and you just know what's bugging him and you're going to go over there to either talk to him about it or make fun of him but either way I know you're not coming home to tell me what you two talked about. You aren't right now are you?"

Yami blinked. "You just canceled out like three different things that could be college theories and made my head hurt. But Yugi, don't worry. I'll tell you what I talked about with Kaiba as soon as I get home. Well, unless he doesn't want me to…"

"Whaddya mean? You think that Kaiba would want you to know something but not me?!" Yugi yelled, his three-foot rage standing up to face Yami.

"No, no… but it's like you said. He's _my_ rival and he might just feel more comfortable talking to me about what's going on in his twisted life…"

"Why do you say twisted? You do know something don't you!?" Yugi yelled, pointing a stout finger at Yami.

"I don't know anything for sure, but I don't feel like everything's alright. There seems to be something big that we missed though, 'cuz Kaiba's usually a real tight ass and you say he's been nice. Maybe he's undergoing therapy… that would be kinda funny actually."

"Well hurry up 'cuz I wanna know. I have several speeches I have to get planned out for him, before tomorrow at school."

"Bye"

………………………………….

Yami sighed as he approached the Kaiba mansion. He would never admit that he enjoyed visiting his rival and that he liked it when they fought. Just a chance to see the boy all angry like that, fighting his hardest to win even a small battle. Whether it be the duel between them in Battle City, or a small argument at school about how stupid he was; it was fun. And he most liked it when he won, not because of the pride factor that he had triumphed over another, but the way the CEO reacts. The way he gets defeated on the inside, and yet as it beats him down slowly, he grows so much stronger and becomes so much more fun to fight.

Yami grinned as he knocked on he door.

A few moments passed before he heard anything. But eventually he heard footsteps on the other side of the door. He was greeted by a small raven-haired boy who was smiling his cutsie smile.

"Hey Mokuba, is your brother home?"

"Well, no he's out right now… getting dinner. But you can wait for him with me, he'll be home in like 10 minutes. Hey, maybe you could have dinner with us!"

"I don't know, I just need to talk to him…"

"Is everything okay?"

"Is anything ever okay?"

Mokuba smiled. "I guess you're right… but it's scary how right you are about Seto. I think there's something going on, but he hasn't said anything."

"So you sense it too. Has he done anything unusual lately, did he go somewhere strange? See a rather effectively disturbing movie? Anything that might explain why he's being nice all of the sudden?"

"Nice. Yami my brother is always a sweetheart, I meant that he's been crying himself to sleep. And when he falls asleep, he has nightmares. I've had to go in there several times to wake him up from some horror. It's awful, breaks my heart over and over."

"You mean…"

"But this all started a few days ago."

"What? You mean you know something? Where was he Mokuba – who was he with?"

"I'm not sure of either, but I know that he went out one day, he was going to work. I know he showed up at work because he called me from there to ask if my homework was done, or something like that, and he didn't come home all night. But I was afraid to ask about what happened because he didn't look very happy about it. He came home with kind of a limp and he looked like he was in so much pain. I think someone hurt him Yami, and I'm scared because I don't know how to help him! Help me Yami! Help him!"

As the Pharaoh took all this in his face went from concerned to angry. "Hold on, does he have a cell phone number?"

Mokuba gave him a look for a minute like 'yeah right, multi billionaire without a cell phone'. "Yeah, here it is…"

Yami took the paper that Mokuba had scribbled on and quickly dialed the number on the phone next to the couch he was sitting on.

" 'ello?"

"Kaiba where are you?"

"What, who is this?"

"No time, where are you?"

"Mokuba? This isn't funny –,"

"Kaiba, it's Yami, where are you."

"On my way home… what's going on… why are you at my house?"

"Hold on, stay where you are, you're walking right?"

"Um yeah, with a very heavy brown bag -,"

"Please stay where you are, I don't want you to be walking home alone again – I'll be there in a minute,"

"What no! I don't need baby-sitter Yami,"

"Kaiba. Stay where you are and surround yourself with people, I mean it!"

There was silence on the other end.

"Kaiba?"

"Fine" was all he said before hanging up.

……………………………………………

Yami spotted Kaiba reading one of those magazines, yes he was out of the street – out of the modern eye; but he wasn't surrounded by people.

"Seto," he growled to himself. Stupid boy for thinking he could take care of himself.

Kaiba looked up and shrugged but didn't put down the magazine. "Took you long enough," he said with a hidden smirk.

"I ran the whole way here! I thought something was going to happen to you. Are you all right though? Is everything okay?"

Seto sighed and looked down. "No, no it's not. You see when I was walking this bird came and went away with my groceries – everything's fine you dolt! And even if it wasn't, it's not your job to take care of me. I can take care of myself," he said as he looked up with anger in his eyes.

"Kaiba, I only want you to be safe. Believe it or not there are some people out there who care whether or not something happens to you, and I may be one of them," Yami said sternly as he advanced on Seto.

But Kaiba backed away. "Is that what this is about? You think that something could happen to me and you for some ungodly reason think that I need you as a babysitter to make sure nothing doesn't?! Let me tell you something Yami, I can take very good care of myself and I have for years! No one can take advantage of me anymore!!!" he screamed.

Yami's hair was blown back. (He he) "Seto, I really just want to know something," he said slowly as he took another step towards him.

And Seto stepped back also. "What."

"The other night, you were gone until morning… where were you?"

Seto's eyes widened, with shock or fear Yami couldn't tell. "How do you know about that,"

"Mokuba told me, he's worried also."

"Well it's neither of you all's business. Maybe it's somehow Mokuba's, but certainly not yours."

Yami sighed. He knew that an attempt to get Kaiba to tell him anything was a foolish one. "Alright, but just so you know, I'm here. And so is -,"

"Yeah I know. 'You're all here for me' – Yugi gave me the speech. And to him I complied, but this is just annoying."

"Well at least let me walk you home -,"

"No."

"Seto-"

"No"

"Come on!"

"NO!!!"

Just then, a large black car came and swerved thus proceeding to zip down the street. The windows were so tinted though that no one could see who or what was inside. There wasn't even a license plate on the back bumper. And of all the strange things that could have happened, they threw a rag out. One that looked like it was for cars, or long enough to be a gag. And it was bloody. They threw it at Seto, Yami could tell, and he, by human instinct, jumped back with wide eyes again. This time, Yami knew they were from fear.

"Come on, let's go," Yami said as he picked up the bag of groceries with one arm, and pulled Seto by the other.

"Yeah…"

…………………………………….

BEJ: YAY! I think that was the longest chapter I've ever written of anything! I'm so excited, so happy so – I UPDATED SOMETHING! YEAH! This is a good feeling, well, hope you all liked it. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	3. Broken

BEJ: Okay, even if only a few people will read and review this failing and … sad little story… then this chapter is for you guys. Thanks, you make work.

…………………………………………

The day was muggy, cold, abnormally wet… and no one felt like going outside. Rather sleep all day and get up in the afternoon only to sip hot chocolate and watch TV. And yet it was just one of those days where you had to go outside. _Nature called…_ The kids cried to go outside and build snowmen and throw snowballs at each other – to attempt building an IGLOO maybe.

Not everything was going right though, once again, that kind of day. It was the kind of morning where you bonk your head getting up. Rip your uniform putting it on (Joey actually did that), and you have nothing to eat for breakfast. And then to top it all off, you miss the buss for school.

Then Grandpa drops you off in an Oldsmobile.

There are two very large TV's outside Domino High School, like freakin' **HUGE **TV's. So people who are on the grounds and outside can see what's going on. It's supposed to be for the announcements, but they sometime broadcast football games on there. Domino was cool.

But today as the announcements were rolling, the group of friends was sitting outside on a bench and watching Joey and Tristian fight in the snow. Seto was sitting under his tree, and luckily for him there was a small patch of grass there so that his butt didn't freeze to death.

The very cheerful anchorman on the other side of the screen announced something the students liked hearing. "And now, we will roll the tape of the highlights from last weeks football game against Shindou High," he said as he pointed to the camera man, signaling to press play. The students began to cheer, they were quite proud of their football team.

There was a lot of static as the tape started. But it wasn't football. It was a dead girl (kidding), it was a picture of a room, a filming of a room and all that the camera had in view was a bed. One that looked like college dorm room quality, old and shaggy.

Yami frowned, he didn't like the looks of this.

(I'm afraid to post the contents of the tape on ff.n for fear of being deleted again, but the scene will be posted on the msn group – Yu-Gi-Oh Yaoi, it's not right now though – but please check the site later! –desperate face- :l)

They all looked at Kaiba who looked utterly horrified, and they thought they saw tears in his eyes, though they wouldn't be surprised if he just started crying right there. His head fell on his curled up knees, he was breathing heavy. But as soon as he saw the whole school staring at him, not just the ones outside where he was, but students were looking outside their classroom windows.

"Oh my God." Yugi whispered again. "Should we go over and say something-,"

The PA system came on then, cutting Yugi off. "Would Seto Kaiba, Derrick Foster, Sam Worthmire, and Trey Cleirs please report to the Principal's office immediately.

Before they could even look over at Seto, he had started a very fast walk toward the office. And Yami followed, he needed to know what happened. If they tried to get mad at Seto, he would need to kill a few people.

"Yami wait!"

But it was too late, Yami didn't care about anything else anymore.

"Sir, you can't go in there." The security guard said as Yami approached the office.

"Why the hell not?!"

"They're talking to them right now, and it's very important that they have priva-,"

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!" they both heard come from the room. It was the sound of the principal's voice.

Yami listened intently in case he heard crying, but he couldn't hear anything. All he heard was the evil boy's sick laughter.

SMACK

"Sir, you had better stop that laughter right now because I am not kidding around. You could will go to jail for this."

Yami stepped back then. "Alright, but you do a favor for me. When the brown haired boy comes out of there, you tell him he needs to call Yami."

"You talkin' about Seto?"

"Yeah, please just give him the message."

"I will."

"Thanks."

…………………………………………

All day though, Yami couldn't stop thinking about it. He couldn't believe what those sick freaks had done. But they would pay, rest assured, they would pay. No one had ever, in 5 millennia, ever gotten away with hurting a friend. And whether Kaiba would admit it or not, he was a friend.

"Yami!" Yugi called as he ran up.

The Pharaoh only looked at him and shook his head. "This is all so wrong. What they did, how they're handling it. Seto could die! What if that knife wasn't clean-"

"Yami, calm down. The knife was pulled out of a case, it was clean. But what do you mean 'the way they're handling it'?" Yugi asked as he took his Yami by the arm to lead him back to his friends.

"The boys are in there laughing about it," Yami replied gloomily.

"Seto?!"

"No… the boys who did it."

"Oh…"

……………………….

Only a few hours since Yami had gotten home. He hadn't been able to think about anything other than Seto. The horror shaking him so profoundly, the ominous feeling he got when he tried to think about anything other than the tape. His heart shuddered like a young girl stuck out in the cold without a jacket. His mind was clogged with all these unwelcome feelings that roomed every corner and evicted all happy things brought in.

The school had called him to inform him that school was canceled for the next few days and Winter Break could start early. The students petitioned for it, saying that it was in the best interest – but Yami knew that they only cared about getting more free time. The thought disgusted him, as did the one of the look the boy who did the dirty work in the video, he's ultimate satisfaction of making someone else suffer, the look of pleasure that someone else was in pain, and helpless. Sickening.

Yami sighed and put down the glass of water he'd been drinking. Yugi had left with his friends to give his dark side some much needed alone time. But as much as the Pharaoh tried to forget, or not think about it, or sleep – anything to get the pain and horror out of him, nothing would work.

Finally he settled on watching a movie. He would start to get into it, probably fall asleep before the main characters started to die, before anyone got the girl. Before the world was saved…

The Game King shook his head, no world was that perfect. And this was the world he was living was the replacement for fairy tale perfection. Nothing was as good as it seemed, and no one did anything.

And that's when it hit him.

Why sit around feeling bad about something that happened to a friend? Try to imagine how the friend is feeling! Yami stood up abruptly as sense attacked his brain. "I've got to go see Seto…" he thought to himself.

He grabbed his coat and pulled it on, the warmth hugging him and telling him it was going to be okay. But he didn't even notice the added comfort of something as simple as clothing – his mind was set on one thing. And that was getting to the friend who needed his help most at this time.

He left a short note for Yugi and Grandpa, for when they got back from whatever freak thing they were doing. And then he left. Running out the door and barely shutting it behind him as he headed for his car, well… Grandpa's car.

But it wasn't there. Grandpa must have taken it when he went out to do his morning shopping.

Yami growled and instead of running for the bus stop, ran for the mansion street, Cherry Kissed Dr. (queerest name ever – I know). Most of the mansions in town were on that street, and Yami was oddly confident that Seto's was as well.

His decent however, was not a smart one. It was slowly dropping in temperature, and it was already –16 degrees. His choice of coat wasn't smart either. While the one he was wearing was quite warm yes, it wasn't very insulated, and the King Chumpbo was going to get cold soon.

But obliviously on he ran. And in the right direction too. Which was surprising considering the amount of snow falling and blocking his vision… and judging by the Game King's poor sense of direction…

But after at least 30 minutes, he reached his destination. He was frost bitten, he couldn't feel his fingers, toes, his poor unprotected face, and he definitely couldn't feel his ears. He shivered violently as he staggered up the drive toward the black iron gate. It was a bit creepy…

"He-hello?" he asked as he pushed the button on the speaker and prayed for an answer.

"Yes"

"Could… could I pl-please, sp-speak to s-s-Seto?"

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Yeah," he lied.

"Please come in."

………………………………

BEJ: ☺I know this is kind of short, but thanks for reading.

please review pepleh. because if you don't review I might just have to freak your beans with a weed smokin robot

**_PLEASE_** **_REVIEW_**!!!!!!!!!


	4. Behind You

BEJ: I LOVE THIS!!! I've been up-dating regularly… it's nice, and a lovely new change for me… since I never used to up-date anything. But this is a new account – SO NEW LIFESTYLE!!! He he! Oh and thank you for reviewing, I feel loved, and I love you people.

…………………………

"Please come in."

Yami pushed the button again. "Th-thanks," he stuttered as the black gates opened and he hobbled up the drive.

The door was no less comforting, it was large, and possibly of a nicer color – with the impending fact that it was cherry. Yami knocked on it angrily, begging to be let inside, where his butt wouldn't fall off.

A few moments later Mokuba answered. His smile was the warmest thing Yami had seen for a while now. "Hey Yami! Come on in, are you here to see my brother?" he asked as he stepped aside to let the Game King enter.

Yami shivered into the sudden toasty warmth. He sighed relief that he'd made it. "Yeah, is he here now?"

"Yes! Hold on, I'll go let him know you're here. But wait… you're not here about today are you, 'cuz Seto's really sensitive about that right now. He might not want to see you right now, now that I think about it…"

Yami's face fell and looked at the boy with pleading eyes. "Mokuba, I came all the way here in the cold so I could see him… please… lemme talk to him. I can try to make him smile."

Mokuba hesitated for a moment before complying. "Alright, I'll be back in a minute," he said as he darted up the stairs towards his brother.

Yami sighed. Helping people was hard work.

He looked around the room for a nice place to sit and wait, he knew as well as any that it could be a while. He settled on a nice couch, not leather, velvet.

The Pharaoh sunk down into the luscious cushion. It hugged his sides well as he rested his head against a matching pillow.

It was so soft, and it was all he could do not to fall asleep.

…

But moments later Mokuba came flying down the stairs once again. "Yami, he doesn't really wanna talk right now… he's still kinda upse-"

"Mokuba, that's fine… bye." Yami said, but he didn't leave, instead he ran past Mokuba, up the stairs, and quickly glanced for a room he prayed Seto would be in.

He chose the one nearest him as he heard Mokuba yell up at him. It was a closet, and Yami hoped Seto wasn't in there.

So he went for the one at the end of the hall – another closet. But the one to the right of that was a bedroom, Yami could tell – the door was different, in an almost unnoticeable way.

Yami pushed the door open and stepped inside.

A person, Seto, was sitting on his bed with his knees pulled up to his chest, bloodshot tear-stained eyes, and a look of shock on his face.

"Seto…"

"Yami please, I-"

Yami walked to him slowly and put a finger to his lips. "I'm here for you, and I can't stop thinking about that tape. Seto, what happened? Why didn't you tell us?" he asked, his face full of concern for the depressed CEO.

Seto looked down and another tear fell from his gorgeous blue eyes. "I was scared… they said –" his voice choked.

Yami sat on the bed next to him and gave Seto a much needed hug. "Shh… breath," he whispered.

The Dragon Tamer sucked in air and paused.

"You were saying?"

"They swore to me… if I ever told anyone… they'd do it again. And I wouldn't come out alive… they were serious Yami. They had power, they _have_ connections to people. It's not just a group of stupid boys, they're the line and sinkers to some big fish," Seto said quietly, and tearily.

Yami squeezed him tighter. "Seto, you don't have to worry. No one is going to hurt you anymore –"

"Yeah? Well that's what they said when Gozaburo left!" he yelled, pulling away from Yami's warm embrace.

"Seto, I know he was cruel to you-"

"No, you have no idea. You haven't the faintest conception under God of everything I've been through. And you never will," Seto said in monotone as he gazed in Yami's eyes. It was almost like he was blinding the older boy…

"You're right, no one besides you will ever understand what you've been through. But I am here to be a shoulder for you to cry on. This time you don't have to go through it all alone. You have lots of people who just want to help you,"

"That's what everyone said; my therapist, my doctor, everyone. But they don't understand that I don't want help. I want a friend, I want someone that I can actually talk to and call at 3:00 in the morning and talk to just because I had a bad dream, someone who knows me, not someone who knows about mental problems and about how to cope with life. Because they don't know my life, a friend would," Seto said softly as he looked down at his silk blue sheets.

"Well I'm your friend, and you know what, you could call me at 3:00 just to tell me you can't sleep," Yami replied with a smile.

Seto looked up at him, the tears looked almost distant now. "You mean that?"

The Pharaoh nodded. "But why wait 'til 3:00, talk to me now."

Seto got sad again. His eyes turned watery, and he looked away, avoiding eye contact. "Yami, you don't know how sensitive a subject rape is for me…"

"But I want to know. I want to know everything about you. This can just be our motive, so tell me what happened. From start to finish, and if you need to cry – its okay," Yami said as he, almostshyly, pulled the surprisingly light boy against his chest.

The blue eyed angel pulled with him a soft, light blue, home knit comforter against him, and curled up under it. He closed his eyes and laid his head on Yami's strong chest. To this the Pharaoh's eyes widened, he never would have thought that KAIBA – of all people would submit to his embrace and fall against his chest in tears, but Yami's only explanation for the unusual acts was the ever impending fact that the CEO was very vulnerable right now, and really needed someone.

"Why?"

The Pharaoh looked up confused. "Hmm?"

"Why does it mean so much to you? Why do you care so much?" he asked, his voice still showing signs of having cried a bunch not long ago.

Yami paused. He frowned and was grateful that Seto wasn't looking at him. "Well… because I care about you. I care immensely about all my friends, and you're my friend. So you mean a lot to me. Even if we don't always get along, I care," he said, a small smile of satisfaction creeping into his face.

This time it was Seto's turn to pause and think of what to say. "Oh… well, in that case. The other night, I was waling home – from work – and I had to stop at the H-E-B on Burnet Lane, so I could get some stuff, I don't remember what, but there were these guys down at the end of the school supplies isle, and they were all dressed in black, so I was kinda worried. That, and they were all glancing at me and doing that creepy 'huddle and laugh' thing – so I was creeped out. And when I was leaving, you know, checked out and everything – they were waiting outside. Of course I didn't notice, I had two giant bags I was focusing on, trying to balance them… and one of them came over to me. He asked if I had a light, and obviously I didn't. I don't smoke, well… yeah… but I told him no, and he said, 'well then what can I have?' – and I asked him what the fuck he was talking about – and that's when the other two came up from behind and grabbed me. One of them had that little cloth thing, the breather thing that makes you pass out… and the next thing I knew I was in their car on my to hell," Seto explained, getting through it all without crying. Yami was proud of him.

But his pride for Seto was over thrown by his horror at the story. "Oh my God… that's awful… what happened afterward though? I mean they didn't just leave you there permanently did they? They came back for you to take you home? Or someone else came? Did you call an ambulance?" Yami asked his anxiety level was at an unhealthy stage.

Seto did look at him this time. His blue eyes shined with an unspoken innocence, it was amazing how they told a story without words ever leaving his mouth. "No Yami, they left, and no one came. They didn't have a phone; they took their cell phones. I waited, waited until I could move, and I ran away. I couldn't think of anything else to do. I didn't have one, I didn't have anything."

"They didn't take anything of yours did they?"

"Only my dignity, what little of it that was actually mine anyway," Seto replied as he readjusted to be more comfortable; snuggling into Yami's chest, and putting his head in the crook of the older boy's neck.

Yami looked at him. This moment was precious, and it would never happen again, hell – Kaiba might never talk to Yami again, but for now. The only thing that mattered was that he was helping a friend, and he was doing it the right way for a change – not through empty words, but through actual kindness. Physical affection, something that was real and not just known. Something that was felt and not just shared. Something warm, not bitter and cold… the way words could be, so empty and nonchalant, so dense as air – forgotten, and held onto like a rope of redemption, leading back to nothing but pain, because the words are no more.

Time passed, neither of the boys was sure how much, but the air was getting colder, the sky was getting darker, and both were growing sleepier. Yami gently rubbed Seto's arm; the skin was cold. The Pharaoh guessed that it was time for them to sleep. He might have to go home also, if Yugi and Grandpa were back. He gently nudged the CEO to see if he was still awake. He got a groan in response.

"Nope, sleeping like a babeh," Yami whispered to himself as he gently pulled out from under the Dragon Tamer to leave. He knew that when Seto woke up he'd be freaked out because he was alone, but his family must have been worried that Yami wasn't home.

Just as he thought this, his cell phone began ringing. The large blast of "Vindicated", ring tone style, came blaring through the room. Yami winced, he didn't want to wake up Seto. He whipped it out and answered.

"Hello?!" he asked in a hushed, angry whisper.

"Hey! Where are you?" came Yugi's voice on the other side of the phone, bright and cheerful as ever.

Yami sighed and ran his fingers through his marijuana plant looking hair. "Hey, I'm at Seto's right now, we talked…"

"Oh my God! What'd he say? Is he alright, I mean, after that tape was shown to everyone he didn't go off and to anything stupid did he?" Yugi asked hurriedly, making Yami smile with his bubbly concern for everyone.

"He's better, he told me what happened. Yugi, these people are sick – I wanted to ask about why they threw a bunch of money on him before they left – but I was worried he's get upset. But I did get through and I think he's gonna be alright," Yami replied with a natural smile coming to his face as he realized the true reality of his own words.

"That's good, well, come home when you're ready – Grandpa ordered pizza. And hey, bring Seto too, we can all talk and watch a movie, no school tomorrow – remember?"

Yami sighed. "I don't know if he'd be up for that, I mean… he was even reluctant to talk to me about it."

"Then we won't talk about it, we'll just hang out. Spend some time with friends and pizza."

"I dunno…"

"Here, lemme talk to him – I know I can get through," Yugi said warmly.

Yami glanced at Seto, still curled up in his blanket. "Um… actually… he's asleep."

There was a pause on the other line. "Oh… well wake him up and bring him over, it would be nice to see him again. You can even bring Mokuba… though I don't think Seto would want him to watch this movie with us, Resident Evil tends to be quite a doozy on young children…"

Yami laughed his stinky laugh. "I'll tell him. Bye Yugi,"

"Bye."

And with that, the conversation with those two – was over

Yami put his phone back in his pocket and turned around. Seto was sitting on his side, head propped up by a hand, and was giving Yami the most adorable 'you are an idiot' look ever.

"I didn't wake you up did I? Mokuba's downstairs… he didn't go anywhere… I'm so sorry! That was Yugi and I had to make sure he knew I was okay 'cuz he was worried and –"

Seto interrupted him. "It's okay, I wasn't really that tired anyway… but that was the best nap I ever had…"

Yami smiled and held out his hand to help the CEO stand up.

Seto swatted it away. "I'm tired now ya poo head! You made me tired with all your babble about… well… I wasn't really listening – so I don't know."

Yami: sweatdrop "Well that's okay, because you probably don't want to go out anyway do you?"

"With you?"

"Well… I wouldn't say it like that. More like, I would take you to Yugi's house, you'd all eat pizza, hangout, and watch Resident Evil. It sounds like too much though right?" Yami asked, he seriously doubted that Seto would even want to go somewhere for something wonderful like ice cream – much less for Yugi.

Seto thought for a moment. "That'd be fun… I haven't seen a good zombie movie in a while. It would also be nice to be around people who don't judge me for what they saw… I hope not at least."

Yami shook his head. "No! We're all behind you 100!" he said dangerously, "and don't you forget it!"

…………………………….

BEJ: . … please review! - and i know that it seemed like they were moving too fast - i'm sorry! : l


	5. Sleepover

BEJ: Yay! I finally up-dated!

**VERY IMPORTANT: ** For the people who e-mailed me or reviewed asking me to send them a link for the tape b/c they couldn't find it – I'm so sorry for this butt I didn't I didn't send you the link because I haven't written it yet. SORRY! I still haven't written it because I'm a lazy ass, but I promise to have it up by this weekend. And then I will send it to those of you who asked for the link. I'm so very, very sorry for the delay. Thank you for caring! (Actually, if you could please re-e-mail me that you wanted to link - SORRY!)

Anyway, please enjoy!

The Gameshop was warm, how very unlike that stupid, persistent cold outside. As the pair shook off their snowflakes, Yugi came trotting in at the sound of the bell on the door.

"Oh yay! You guys made it!" he chirped as he clapped his hands with glee.

Yami looked at his travel companion noting that his cheeks were flushed and his nose was red. As Seto took of his gloves, the Pharaoh noticed his hands were pink also.

"You both look cold," Yugi said happily as he took both their hands and led them to the back. "Come with me, everybody else is already here."

Seto glanced at Yami with a small smile on his face as Yugi brought them to the door of the back room where the Motou's did most of their fun stuff. "You two wait here, I have to make sure everyone's dressed. They were all playing naked Twister when I went to get the door," he said with a disgusted shake of the head as he waltzed in the room.

This time Yami looked at Seto. He was frowning, probably at the Twister comment. "Sorry about that, no one ever actually gets naked, they just throw their socks at each other and stuff like that. And, we don't expect you to play so it's-"

"Naked Twister sounds like it might be fun," Seto interrupted with a sly grin.

Yami stared at him. "Are you serious."

"No," he replied as Yugi came back out and pulled them both in.

The group was indeed fully dressed and they were all sprawled out over the couches with soda cans askew. Joey lifted his head up and smiled at the two. "Kaiba! Glad you made it, how was the journey over here?"

"It was cold, and now I'm all wet…" he said as he plopped down on the couch next to Joey. "It's cold in here to, what's up with that?"

Yugi turned a bit pink. "Well, Joey thought that it would be a good idea to open the window for some 'fresh air' and that instead let a lot of cold air inside," he replied as he turned to give the blonde a look.

"Stupid Joey."

The puppy growled and stood up. "Enough of this! Let's order pizza now and get some chocolate while Yugi puts in the movie, okay?"

Yugi nodded and set to do his task.

5 Hours Later 

The movie was over and the pizza was long gone, but the gang was sitting around drinking hot cocoa and talking. The friends hadn't been able to sit down and actually talk to each other for a long time; seeing as how they had just finished up with mid-terms and planning their winter break. But none of them had ever had a real conversation with Seto, and this opportunity proved that the CEO was not as boring as he seemed. He knew a lot about music and movies and was even a religious watcher of Friends. Even Joey learned that he and Seto shared a common love of cake. (Mmm… cake)

But Yami found him the most intriguing. Not just because the boy had happened to have a surprisingly interesting personality, but the Pharaoh thought he was beautiful. It wasn't a surprise that Yami was gay, it seemed like everyone in the world had suddenly turned gay, but the fact that he was attracted to Kaiba? That was not right.

And still, he found himself staring at the brunette as he spoke. The way his lips moved, the way he smiled, the small snort he did when Joey made him laugh too hard. Every little thing he did Yami found attractive, but it was when Seto got up to get another soda, and Yami caught sight of his butt – that he actually found the dragon tamer sexy. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw how tiny Seto actually was. His waist could probably have an arm wrapped around it twice. Even his shoulders, which had always looked so broad and proud, were actually tiny and fail. His pale skin made him look even skinnier.

But why was he so skinny? Seto had had practically an entire pizza himself! (He was in an eating contest with everyone, it had come down to him and Joey, but of course the blonde won). So where was all the food going? Normally, the Pharaoh would be worried about Seto being anorexic or something, but he now knew that the boy actually ate a lot.

"Yami?"

The Pharaoh was abruptly snapped out of his thoughts by the calling of that voice.

"Uh… Yami?"

The Pharaoh turned to look at Seto. "What"

"Tea asked if you wanted to play truth or dare, but for real. None of that sissy shit where you ban nudity and stuff like that," Seto replied with a small grin.

Yami grinned back. "Sure, but I wanna go first," he said.

The group nodded in agreement and waited for him to choose a victim. The Pharaoh of course had someone in mind to ask, and so he did.

"Seto"

"Yes"

"Truth or dare?"

Seto waited a moment, pretending to think. "Dare, I'm feeling frisky"

Tea laughed (everyone else was too stupid to get it). Yami shook his head and thought. "I dare you to… let's see here… I dare you to do the Bloody Mary thing where you stand in front of a mirror with the lights off, and say 'I believe in Bloody Mary' ten times, getting louder with each one – and supposedly she appears in the mirror,"

Seto hesitated for a moment. "Yami I don't believe in superstitions,"

"Then this dare shouldn't be a problem."

Seto frowned and stood up. "Where's a room with a mirror?" he asked, his voice only shaking slightly. "And am I allowed to have people in the room with me?"

Yami thought for a moment. "The rule says no, but since you look scared I'll go with you," he replied with a grin.

"I'm not scared! And I already told you, I don't believe in superstitions so there's nothing to be scared of anyway!" Seto yelled back.

Yami smiled. "So does that mean you don't want me to come with you?"

Seto hesitated again. "Well… if you didn't come then how would you know that I actually did it and didn't just go in and wait until I made you think I'd done it?"

"Well there is no way. So I suppose I'll have to go with you,"

Seto nodded and let Yami lead the way to where the room with the mirror was. Down at the end of the hall – Yugi's room – they entered and Yami clicked off the light. Because it was so late at night, and the room was at the end of the hall where no house light could creep under the door, the room was exceptionally dark. Yami took Seto's hand and led him to where the mirror was, attached to Yugi's dresser. Seto stopped in front of and waited.

"So what do I do again?"

"You look into the mirror and say 'I believe in Bloody Mary' ten times getting louder with each time," he replied.

Seto nodded again. "That's easy – your dares suck"

"Well if it's so east then allow me to see you do it,"

"I belie-"

"That's too loud, you have to start quiet," Yami interrupted as he shook his head, his spiky, spiky head.

Seto scowled. "Shut it will you. I believe in Bloody Mary,"

"I believe in Bloody Mary"

"I believe in Bloody Mary"

"I believe in Bloody Mary!"

"I believe in Bloody Mary!"

"I believe in Bloody Mary!"

"I believe in Bloody Mary!"

"I believe in Bloody Mary!"

"I believe in Bloody Mary!"

"I believe in Bloody Mary!"

There was a moment of silence after that, and Yami noticed that Seto was holding his arm, rather tight. He wasn't shaking, like Yami had hoped (because then he could cuddle with him), but he appeared frightened.

"Well… do you see her?" Yami asked quietly.

Seto breathed a sigh of relief. "No. See, I told you, I don't believe in superstitions."

Yami smirked. "Well you just made it very clear that you _believed_ in some parts of superstitions," he teased.

Seto scowled again. "Shut up, let's go back to the game. I'm sure everyone else wants a turn," he said as he turned to leave the room.

But it was dark, and Seto didn't know where the door was, so Yami called 'wait' and reached out to get the Seto who didn't know where he was going – but Seto tripped on the corner of the bed, and Yami (who was still holding him) tripped also, falling on top of him. (A/N: I know that's corny but shut the hell up.)

Just then, the door opened, and the fairy was back. (Kidding) No, but instead Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristian stood there looking very confused. "Um… are we interrupting something?"

Seto struggled to push Yami off him. "No, no" they both replied as they scrambled to get up and regain composure.

Joey laughed. "Seto and Yami sittin' in a tree, K – I – S – S- I -"

"Oh come off it, will you!" Yami growled and he took a swing at Joey. "It was an accident, we both tripped alright!"

"Whatever you say"

(Back downstairs)

"So Seto, since you got dared it's your turn," Yugi said as they all sat down in their former spots on the couch and floor.

"Fine. Let's see… Joey! Truth or Dare?" Seto asked.

"Truth, I don't feel like getting up again,"

"Alright… if you had to be with a guy, as your boyfriend, who would it be?" he asked as 'oohs' filled the room.

Joey frowned. "I don't know. I like women, and if I had to be with a guy as my boyfriend it would probably be my reflection," he replied.

"You're that conceited?" Seto asked.

"No! No… alright… it would be… I guess Tristian. I mean he is my best friend after all," Joey said quietly.

Tristian looked taken aback. "Dude, I never knew you felt that way," he teased as he moved over and tried to sit on Joey's lap.

"Shut up man!" Joey yelled as he pushed Tristian off him. He growled at Seto and then looked around the room for _his _next victim.

"Yugi, truth or dare?" he asked as he finished successfully shoving Tristian off him.

Yugi glanced outside before answering. "Um… hold on a moment," he said as he stood up to walk to the front door. He tried to open up the door, but it wouldn't budge. Yugi then walked to the window, but that only showed him that the snow was way too high.

"There must be a snowstorm going on, looks like you guys will have to stay here for the night," Yugi said as he turned to go and sit back down.

Seto shifted a little. "But what about Mokuba? I can't leave him at home alone?"

Yami nudged Seto. "Doesn't he have bodyguards and maids and stuff, he won't be alone," he said reassuringly.

Seto looked worried but nodded. He looked even more worried, everyone did, when the power shut off a minute later.

"Oh dear," Yugi mumbled.

Yami tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness and felt his way around to see where he was. He put his hands on the ground to push himself up and stand up to go get flashlights, but instead of putting his hands on the ground he put his hands on Seto's… area.

"Gah!"

"Sorry!"

(Later… When Everyone's Sleeping)

Yami tried to sleep, but the thought of Seto laying next to him was keeping him awake. He rolled over to look at the sleeping body. After Yugi had helped him set up the sleeping bag's and flashlights, Seto had laid down and crashed right away.

"Yami" he whispered.

Yami looked up. Perhaps Seto hadn't fallen asleep. "What?" he whispered back.

"Hold my hand," he replied.

Yami didn't hesitate. He reached over and took Seto's hand, gently stroking his palm.

"Thank you," Seto whispered, and he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Yami smiled and closed his own eyes. "You're welcome,"

………………………………….

BEJ: Ah… the romance is blossoming! I'll up-date faster than I did last time, promise. Please review!


	6. Can't be Gay

BEJ: Look look look, I up-id-dated! Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! And I posted the tape! It's on my homepage under ' Cherry Limeade Tape', please read and I hope you enjoy!

It was early in the morning, like... 4 or 5 or something like that, too early. Seto was the only one awake he realized as he glanced around the room full of sleeping figures. He had woken up in a cold sweat, panting hard and terrified. Not because he was having a nightmare, or a flashback of some awful memory from his childhood, but he'd had a wet dream, and it had scared the shit out of him.

Seto woke up moaning with his hands in his pants, very grateful that he hadn't actually come, and that he'd woken up before anyone could see him like this. But was scary about this dream, was not that he'd had it at someone else's house, surrounded by people that he was only just beginning to know well, but the fact that the other occupant in his dream had been Yami. Seto didn't think he was gay, he'd always had wet dreams with women when he was going through puberty, and now, a man. And of all people, why Yami! It wasn't like he was attracted to him or anything... he hoped. But Seto did have to admit, that Yami was kind of cute, but not in a sexually attractive way!

Seto pulled his hands out of his pants and sat up. He rested his forehead in his hands and his elbows on his knees as he recollected what he'd dreamt. Yami had started out kissing him, gently, not demanding, and then stripped him of everything in what seemed like one quick motion, as if a breeze had gone by and left Seto naked and vulnerable for Yami's attack. But the Pharaoh was very gentle with him, even when he started doing him for real, and Seto hadn't minded (is that a word?) one bit. He'd actually moaned and begged the Game King for 'more' and 'harder'. Seto sighed, what did it mean?

He looked over to his side to see Yami sleeping peacefully. Seto was sooooo grateful that Yami hadn't seen him while he was still caught up in his lovely dream. Wait... did he just think lovely dream? It wasn't lovely! It was scary!

"I can't be gay... well... I can't let anyone know I think I might be gay, or everyone will hate me again!" Seto thought to himself sadly. "Maybe it's not such a bad thing... just as long as no one finds out. I just barely made friends with these guys and I can't afford to spring something on them like this and expect them to stick around," Seto whispered.

Yami stirred in his sleep and then, without even opening his eyes, took a deep breath and said in a gruff voice, "Seto it's okay if you're gay, we love you anyway."

Seto gasped, mentally slapped himself for thinking out loud. He looked at Yami with panick-filled eyes and hesitated before speaking. "You mean it?" he asked timidly.

Yami opened his eyes and sat up with a grunt before turning his head to look at Seto and gave him a small smile said, "We would never shun you because of something like that. We're not quite that shallow, and besides, I'm gay also," he said very noncahalantly.

Seto looked surprised. "Really? I mean, I've always had the suspision that I was gay, I mean it's kind of obivous, but I was always really scared to accept it, what with the world being the way it is and all," he replied.

Yami smiled. "Sure... but why are you so afraid of being gay in the first place? To me it's really not that be a deal,"

Seto sighed and rested his chin on his knees and pulled his legs up to his chest. "When I was younger, Gozaburo used to scold me and hit me for thinking I might be gay. That's when all the _real_ abuse started, he used to say that his lessons would teach me to be strong and straight. And if he caught me even looking at another boy, he'd knock me to the ground. Hell, he used to hit me if I laughed. It wasn't even until I got older that I realized that it ws okay to be gay, but even still, the fear of rejection that he taught me still sticks," he replied as he cast a glance at the Pharaoh who was watching him intently.

Yami paused a moment before responding, completely unsure of what to say. Mokuba had told them all of the things Gozaburo used to do to Seto, the suffering he endured at the hands of that man. He shut his eyes and thought back to the day when they learned that news, how horrified and disgusted they all were...

_FLashback_

_It was just after the Battle City tournament had ended. Yugi and his friends were all heading home for some much needed rest when the issue of transportation came up. Not that they all couldn't walk home, they just didn't want to. _

_So they all sent up Yugi to ask Mokuba if they could all get rides from the limo driver or something like that, and of course Mokuba said yes. It was when they were in the car though and they all started talking that the real truth about Seto's past came out. _

_"Thanks a lot Mokuba, this is really helpful since we're all so tired," Tea said happily. _

_The group nodded as Mokuba replied, "Well, it's the least we can do, after all, it's not like Seto walked y'all off that island,"_

_Joey growled. "Stupid Kaiba, who does he think he is tryin' to blow us up? I'll show him who's boss next time I see that bastard," _

_"Joey!" Yugi exclaimed, it was one thing to say that about someone who's younger brother was giving them a free ride home, but when the younger brother was in the car was another. _

_Mokuba glared at him. "For your information, Seto was trying to blow you up he wanted the island blown up because that was the last physical thing standing that reminded us of Gozaburo! Seto just wanted that out of his life forever!" he yelled in defense of his absent brother. _

_Joey blinked and sat back. "Say, why does Kaiba hate Gozaburo so much anyway? It sounded like he had problems, but nothin' to get this upset over,"_

_Once again Mokuba glared at him. "You asshole. You have no idea what Gozaburo used to do to my big brother, the stuff Seto had to go through so he could protect me. He has suffered more in his childhood than any of you will in your entire lives!" _

_The group sat in stunned silence. Joey was really just shocked that Mokuba had used the word 'asshole'. After a few minutes of that though, Tea piped up. "What did he do Mokuba?" she asked quietly. _

_"Tea, I don't think that's any of our business, even if I do really want to know now..." Tristian muttered. _

_Mokuba glanced at Yugi who looked just as eager to learn the truth. He sighed and dropped his head before glancing at them all again and asking, "Would you promise never to tell another soul?"_

_They all nodded eagerly._

_"And you never tell Seto that you know?"_

_They all nodded ever more eagerly. _

_Mokuba sighed again. "I guess it all started when Seto was 12, we'd just been adopted, and he was already taking these classes from just Gozaburo that were supposed to make him 'stronger'. Gozaburo started with physical stuff, he used to make Seto run a lot, and lift really heavy stuff, and if he couldn't do it, he would hit him."_

_Mokuba paused a moment to let this sink in to all of them before continuing. _

_"After a while I noticed though that Gozaburo used to take the abuse thing to a whole new level and would find any excuse to hit Seto. What I didn't realize was that it was really any excuse to _touch _him."_

_Only Yugi could see where this was going. _

_"So one night, Seto was playing with me, and my stuffed animals, and we were having a great time when Gozaburo ordered Seto to go take a bath. Now, Seto learned early on not to argue with him and did as he was told. So Seto went to go take a bath, but he never liked taking them in tubs. He always did it in this little creek we had in the backyard. So I went with him because I was lonely, followed him to the creek that is, and I sat down and watched Seto strip and jump in. He used to love it in the summer especially, because the water was warmed by the sun. So anyhoo I'm just sittin' there watching Seto swim around, and then he stands up and y'know, washes himself. But what I didn't know was that Gozaburo was standing not far from me watching Seto, staring at him. And Seto didn't notice because he was preoccupied with his duties."_

_Joey and Tristian glanced at each other, now they could kind of see where this was going._

_Mokuba continued. "Now, I don't want to sound gross or anything, but Seto is very attractive, and he just has this sensual way of doing things. And when he was washing himself in the pond thing, it was very arousing, but not for me. Even if I was attracted to my brother, I was too young to know what it meant. But Gozaburo was looking VERY aroused, and he started going toward my brother. Seto turned and noticed him, and gasped and tried to duck down and hide his body in the dark water. But Gozaburo stopped at the waters edge and told him to come here. Seto hesitated but Gozaburo yelled at him too again, so Seto very slowly walked out and over to him, still naked and wet and all, and when he got to him, Gozaburo lifted him up by his hair and smashed his lips against him."_

_THey all gasped in horror. "Oh my God..."_

_"Seto tried to get away, but Gozaburo wrapped his arms around him in a firm grip, so he couldn't. When he was done smothering his mouth, he threw him to the ground and told him to stay their. Then Gozaburo took off his pants, flipped my brother on his stomach, spread his legs - and then he looked at me and told me to watch. Said that if I ever did something bad then this was what would happen to Seto. THen, after pinning Seto's arms above his head so he couldn't struggle, he raped him. And oh it was awful just watching, Seto and I both cried and he screamed and begged for him to stop. And there was blood... I remember the blood and the screams, and the tears. It was so horrible, and that night wasn't the only time Gozaburo did it, no. He used to do it almost every night... and then of course he ran away when the police found out and we haven't seen him since,"_

_End Flashback_

Yami shook his head, even though he hadn't had his own body that day, he could still hear everything Mokuba had said. "Seto, I'm so sorry. I know that it wasn't easy for you and if there was any way I could change that I would. But just so you know, we're here for you,"

Seto smiled. "You constantly remind me of that Yami, how could I not know."

Yami grinned and laid back down. "So, d'you have any interesting dreams you remember?"

Seto turned bright red and looked the other way. "No!" he answered quickly before pulling the covers up over his head and wishing he could disappear.

Later...

"No I do not!" Joey protested.

"Yes you do, and you know it!" Tristian yelled back.

"Tristian I do not touch myself, I never have and I might but I don't!"

Tristian sat back and gave him a look. "Well I know someone who does, they were doing it last night when we were all asleep." he said as he cast a glance at Seto.

The Kaiba turned bright red and his eyes widened. How could Tristian know? And how dare he tell everyone else if he did!

"Someone was having a _wet dream_ and they were moaning out a certain Pharaoh's name, asking him for 'harder'," he said with a grin.

"Who?" everyone asked, except Seto.

Tristian smiled. "Well let's guess, it wasn't me, obviously, and it wasn't Tea because I've said it's a boy, it wasn't Joey because he insists that he doesn't EVER touch himself, even in dreams where he can't help it. So that leaves to people, Yugi, and Kaiba," he said as he gave them both a look.

But the look Seto returned was a plea, begging Tristian not to tell them, and more importantly not to tell Yami!

Tristian caught the look and his face fell. "But then again, it's none of our business so never mind,"

Yugi glared at him. "I didn't do it! I don't have dreams about men - especially one's that look like me and that I'm best friends with! It wasn't me..."

All eyes turned on Seto who kept his head down.

"Seto?" Yami asked quietly, "Is this true?"

Seto looked up at him with tear filled eyes, but eyes that only Yami could see. Yugi stood up and tapped everyone else, motioning that they should leave. After they all filed out, Yami asked again. "Well?"

Seto closed his eyes and nodded. "But that doesn't have to mean anything!" he said defensively.

Yami sat back in shock. This was perfect, maybe Seto like him back... YAY!

BEJ: I know it's short but I'm tired of typing so there. It was humorless too, this is a serious chapter, and there will be a few more of those, so keep your eyes open! Hope you liked it and I'll try to up-date soon. Hasta la Vista! And PLEASE REVIEW! (P.s: I got my braces off today - YAY!)


	7. Just a Dream

BEJ: It's been 9 months, I could have had a friggin' baby!

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Yami was in shock, Seto might like him back… YAY!

But the brunette was feeling something entirely different, shame and sadness had crept up on him, like his little brother on Christmas morning; unannounced and uninvited. Seto forced his head up though it felt like a bag of bricks, to meet the Pharaoh's gaze, even though he was afraid of what he would see on the other's face. But what he saw on that face was something he hadn't expected, an smug grin?

The Game King took a step toward Seto and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder before huskily saying, "So I guess that means you wanna do me, right?" he asked shamelessly.

Seto looked horrified. "C- completely the opposite!" he stuttered back, a small tinge of pink creeping up in his cheeks at the thought of what the Pharaoh had just said.

Yami blinked before putting on his sexy face again. "So that just means you want me to do you," he said happily as he took another step closer to the now frightened brunette.

Seto took a step back and shook his head. "No Yami, I have no desire to sleep with you, I don't even know why I had that dream," he responded calmly, though his heart was beating a mile a minute. How could Yami be so blunt in his questions? Speaking like all of this was nothing, when in reality, it was a big deal! If he and the Pharaoh ever did sleep together, it would make things very weird for everybody else, and that would make Seto really gay, and oh… what would Mokuba think?

Yami hadn't deterred from his mission though, which was to find the motive behind Seto's dream, and now to get him into bed. "So what you're saying is, you have sex dreams about me, but you can't explain why you have them, and the answer isn't that you want to have sex- is that what I'm getting at?" he asked as he placed a hand on his hip and shifted his weight to one foot.

Seto sighed and shook his head. "Yami I only had _one_ dream about you, but no, I don't want to have sex with you so it can't be explained," he answered as he plopped down on the couch behind him with a 'puh!'

Yami cocked his head to the side. "But Seto, why wouldn't you want a piece of this?" he asked, motioning to his body.

The brunette smiled. "Sorry Yami, but I'm going to have to pass,"

ROAR. And the Pharaoh turned into a demon, right before his long snake-like arms reached out to wrap themselves around Seto's tiny neck to choke him, stripping him of life…

"GAH!" the real Seto yelled as he sat up from his sleeping bag, this time for real. It had all been a dream, a scary, scary dream.

What the heck? Seto was dreaming about having sex dreams about Yami! A dream within a dream? And why had he felt so uncomfortable about being gay, he didn't care that much about it no that he was awake and conscious. Sure Gozaburo had always taunted Seto and told him that the queers could amount to nothing in this world and especially in business, but Seto had always assumed that Gozaburo just acted like that because he was insecure about his own homosexuality. (American Beauty anyone?)

Seto pressed a hand to his forehead and felt the small beads of sweat on his hairline. What in the world did all of this mean... and why had Tristian ratted him out like that? He shot a mean look over to the spiky haired man's sleeping bag to find that he was just as asleep as Seto himself had been in the dream, but Tristian didn't have his hands down his pants.

The brunette laid down again. It was still early, the sun wasn't even out yet, and clearly Seto need to sleep all of this weirdness off. Maybe he'd have another dream and forget all about this... yeah, that would be nice...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours later, the Pharaoh stirred. There was finally light pouring through the windows, and that was what had woken him. That, and he was disturbed by the dream he'd had. Seto had a wet dream about him and then Yami could feel himself trying to attack him - what? None of it had made sense, and Yami was way too tired still to try and uncover the hidden meanings behind it all, as dream interpretation was not his favorite pastime.

He looked over at the sleeping Seto and noticed that his nose was a little pink. Why would that be, no body else had pink noses so it couldn't be the cold. Yami gave a quiet gasp; a pink nose that's not caused by the cold could only mean one thing.

Seto was a demon.

(Kidding)

Seto was sick. The poor boy had finally gotten sick from all of this; it was a wonder he hadn't passed out earlier after all that he had been through in the past week. Yami was also pretty positive that Seto hadn't gone to his doctor after the whole kidnapping incident. The Pharaoh moved his gaze from the brunette's nose to his lips. Those plump, sweet, luscious pink lips.

While Yami began to entertain thoughts of kissing those lips, a single file line of drool left his mouth in a very disgusting fashion. But the Pharaoh wasn't paying attention to what was coming out of his mouth; he was too enrapt in what could be coming in his mouth…. Seto's tongue…. Mmm…

But a –smack- of a bird hitting the window knocked Yami out of his stupor and made him look outside to realize that the snow had still not melted. Good Lord! Why did the Gods want him to be trapped in here with these people! (To be truthful though, Yami had no problems being stuck sleeping next to Seto, though he would never admit it out loud).

Seto stirred next to him, but did not wake. Yami smiled at the sleeping dragon, his dragon.

-------------------------------5 hours later when everyone's awake and dressed---------------------------

"Joey that's not fair! You can't just draw cards when you want to!" Seto growled for the umpteenth time. Joey was having a bit of trouble in not blatantly cheating at Duel Monsters, no matter how many times everyone caught him on it.

But the blonde just rubbed the back of his head and blushed a little. "Oh yeah… I just forgot you see…"

Seto rolled his eyes. "Whatever, the duels over anyway. Once my Blue Eyes attacks you're done,"

Joey groaned. "Kaiba could ya just lose once! PLEASE!"

Seto grinned his evil grin. "Never Wheeler, so don't expect it."

Yami smiled and then motioned for Seto to sit next to him on the couch, which the brunette did. He turned to Yami and smiled. "Beating Joey 6 times in a row sure put you in a good mood," Yami said cheerfully.

Seto nodded. "It's an easy pick-me-up," he said, suppressing a grin. In the kitchen Joey could be heard yelling "Hey!"

Yami then did something he hadn't been daring to do all day - he wrapped an arm around Seto and pulled the boy against him. Seto's back was up against Yami's chest, and they almost fit perfectly.

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about… something that I was thinking about last night… after you and I talked,"

"Yeah, what is it?" Seto asked as he tried to look up at Yami and pry his arms off at the same time.

The Pharaoh sighed. "I know what horrors you've been through in your past, and I think I can make them seem not as scary if you'll just talk to me about them. I mean, talking through the pain is how people get over tragedies, and I think –"

"- Time for spin the bottle!" yelled Joey.

Seto blinked very quickly. "Sp-spin the bottle? But there's only one girl here, and she's a lesbian!"

Tea frowned at him. "No I'm not!"

Seto just gave her a look.

Joey scratched the back of his head. "Well that doesn't really matter… anyway, I say, that every tenth spinner has to do the '7minutes in heaven' thing – whatddya y'all say?"

Everyone gave a quick glance around the room, shared some shrugs and sheepish grins before they all turned back to Joey and said "OK"

Joey spun first and it landed on… Yugi.

The smaller duelist blushed and then leaned forward so Joey could kiss him, which the blonde boy did. It was a very fast kiss, nothing romantic about it, and by the time it was over, Joey was also as red as a tomato.

Yugi spun and it landed on Tea.

Tea landed on Yami.

Yami landed on Joey.

Joey landed on Tea.

Tea landed on Tristian.

Tristian landed on Yugi.

Yugi landed on Joey.

Joey landed on Yami

Yami landed on Seto. (This is where it gets interesting )

He looked up to meet the brunette's gaze. There was a hungry look in the Pharaoh's eyes, and he was very ready to finally kiss Seto. Even though he had never admitted that he liked the boy, or daresay 'loved' him, he was definitely ready to kiss him. But what he hadn't taken into account, was that this was the tenth spin.

Joey noticed though, he was the most excited about this game.

"And finally Kaiba gets some!" he yelled excitedly. "Bet y'all didn't notice that this was the tenth spin, so y'all gotta go in the closet and MAKE OUT!"

Seto stared at him with wide eyes and then turned his attention to Yami, who clearly looked like he wanted to do this.

"Oh great," he thought to himself. "Just what I need, a horny Pharaoh."

Yami stood up and offered Seto a hand to help him up, which the Dragon Tamer took, and then Yami pulled Seto into the dark closet, and closed the door.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

BEJ: I'm sorry if that confused anyone… and I'm sorry that it's short. I promise the next one will be longer and should explain some things (just e-mail me if you're confused). And just so y'all know, the Cherry Limeade tape has been on my website for a while now, just wanted to let y'all know. Just go to http/groups. msn. com (just take out the spaces) and the group's called 'Yu-Gi-Oh Yaoi!' (perfect title nay?) Anyway, thanks for reading, and as always, PLEASE REVIEW!


	8. The Terrors of a Closet

BEJ: Thank you all for reviewing! Yeah…. Sorry about the longest wait ever… I've been had a lot going on, but I just got back from the beach and I'm still PALE! I even laid out _on top_ of the towel this time! What the beef!

Haha… it's good…. I like being pale! 

My shirt smells weird…

ALSO! READ THIS MESSAGE! I have received numerous e-mails from people asking if I have a MySpace. I used to have one… and then I deleted it – BUT I made a new one earlier this week, so if you ask me to be your friend, I promise I'll accept you.

The link is http/ www. Myspace. Com/ blueeyesjammys15 – just take out the spaces.

Also… I've been reading a lot of JouxSeto fics… I really like that couple so I'm thinking of doing a story with that couple pretty soon. But, here's the twist, I've also been seeing a lot of BSDM stories, and I've never written anything like that, my lemons usually revolve around the same form of material, but it sounds like it would be fun to write. Anyone interested?

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Inside a closet, it's dark, stuffy, there's not a lot of space to move around, and it can make some people crazy with fear. Teenagers don't realize that kissing can be scary enough, but why does it need to be done in a closet of all places! One of the scariest rooms on earth, and people want other people to kiss in there for the fun of a game. Where's the logic in that? Maybe because closets are usually so small that people have to stay close together because there's not much moving room, or maybe just because 'closet kissing' sounds right.

Well Seto didn't like it one bit.

As soon as he entered the closet and Yami closed the door, a chill swept over him, and unfriendly chill like there was another presence in there that he and Yami couldn't see. It was very unnerving…

Yami, on the other hand, was extremely giddy. He was grinning from ear to ear and his eyes seemed like the only light in the room. He quickly sat down and pulled Seto down next to him. (By God, if he only had 7 minutes he wanted to use them to the fullest!) Once he had adjusted the Dragon Tamer to a position where he was sitting on the Pharaoh's lap, Yami placed his hands on either side of Seto's head, and leaned in to kiss him.

But Seto leapt back in fear. This was all happening so fast! No one even asked him if he was ok with playing the game in the first place! Much less having to be trapped in the closet with a horny Yami who wanted to get right to it! He glared at the Pharaoh and attempted to stand up to deliver an angry speech – but Yami pulled him right back down.

"Seto," he said softly, "it's just kissing, and it's not a big deal. And besides, I'm a really good kisser."

Seto stared at him for a moment before softening his gaze and looking down at his hands in his lap. Ok, so maybe kissing wasn't the scariest thing on the planet, but this would be his first _real kiss_. The first kiss that meant something was going to be delivered to him through the result of a game, in a dusty old closet. So unromantic!

"Will you stop if I ask you to?" he asked, deciding that that would be the best place to start – setting boundaries.

Yami nodded eagerly.

Seto sighed. "Alright then."

Yami smiled and allowed his hands to reassume their former position. Then, he leaned in, and kissed Seto's lips.

They were so soft, so soft. Plump, pouty, and oh dear lord Yami was so excited about being able to kiss Seto. He puckered up his own, not so soft lips, and moved them against Seto's. (He would attempt making out in a minute). The best part – the brunette didn't tense up. Seto completely relaxed his body against Yami's and allowed himself to enjoy this. The Pharaoh moved his hands into Seto's hair and slowly began to run his fingers through it.

Seto had his eyes closed, but he was definitely not asleep. He had no idea that kissing could feel so good. Yami was pressing his bottom lip against Seto's, and was about to slip his tongue inside the other's mouth.

"You think they're gonna have sex?" they both heard Joey ask from outside the old, thin door.

(What a way to ruin a moment)

Almost instantly Seto pulled away from Yami's hands and mouth as he heard Joey voice his curiosity. Of course, the other's had immediately told Joey he was stupid and to shut up, and Yami looked hurt like he'd done something wrong… but Seto wasn't ready for this to be happening! Sure kissing Yami felt good but maybe it only felt good because Seto was still extremely emotional right now!

He lifted his gaze to look the Pharaoh straight in the eye and was so happy to see understanding in those eyes.

**1 hour later**

Seto was sitting on the couch while everyone else played video games and rummaged through the pantry looking for food. He sighed to himself and put his head in his hands.

And hour ago he and Yami had left the closet in silence, and no one dared ask to resume the game when they had returned. Sure, Yami might have understood why Seto couldn't handle kissing other people right now, but the Pharaoh still hadn't spoken to his Priest since then.

The only reason the brunette was pulled from his thoughts was because he felt a thump beside him of another person sitting down. He turned to see who this 'person' was and found that it was the only female in the house.

"Hey Seto!" said Tea cheerfully.

Seto just smiled back, he didn't feel much like insinuating that he wanted to engage in conversation.

She scootched closer to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "I know that you're hurting right now Seto, but we're all here for you. So if you ever need anyone to, you know, _help you out_ then I would be more than willing," she said happily.

Seto, on the other hand, was very disturbed by this offer. He turned to face her with a weird look on his face. "What do you mean by 'help me out'?" he asked nervously, backing away from her embrace.

She cocked her head at him. "I think you know what I mean. You know, if you ever need to _reinforce your masculinity_, then I'm here for you," she said with a smile.

Seto however, was still blissfully ignorant. "Tea, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

Tea sighed. "Seto, I know that for the past couple of years everyone has thought that I like Yugi. Actually, most people think that I like the Pharaoh. But I don't, I don't like any of those boys," she said, motioning to the other boys in the living room. "No, the boy I like is sitting on the couch next to me."

It took Seto a moment to realize what she'd just said, but sure enough, he got it.

"What!"

Everyone in the living room stopped that they were doing to turn around and listen to this loud conversation.

Tea grinned again. "You see? I knew it would surprise you, at first I thought if was going to be a problem, inviting you to come on this trip with us that we were planning. But then that tape played and I realized that you were probably just in need of some love, because you're so vulnerable right now. So I decided that this was the perfect time to admit my feelings to you, when you were more likely to listen," she explained to a very dumbstruck Seto.

He just blinked a few times, and past Tea's head he saw a very angry looking Yami. The Pharaoh had this snarl on his face, it was directed at Tea of course, but he looked like if she said another word then he would eat her.

"Tea… I really don't know what to say. But, I don't think of you like that."

This girl didn't look hurt in fact, she looked even more determined. "That's all right Seto, I'm sure that you'll learn to love me in time," she said before hopping up off the couch to meander elsewhere.

Seto just blinked again. 'What just happened?' he thought to himself. The only reason he didn't start picking at his thoughts was because Yami came over and sat down next to him, he wasn't looking at him, but he was still very close to Seto.

"So you're not interested in her?" he asked coldly, still not looking at the brunette.

Seto was startled. What reason did Yami have to be acting all angry toward him? "No… I'm really not interested in any girls that way… I thought you knew that," Seto responded.

Yami blinked and turned to look at Seto. "If I hurt you today, kissing you, then I'm sorry. That wasn't my intent. I just got excited ya know?"

Seto smiled. "Yeah, I know. I'm just glad you're talking to me again. When you shun me, random girls come and sit down to profess their love for me. It's weird…"

Yami looked at him seriously. "I'm proud of you, you know that don't you?" he asked as he reached over to take the brunette's hand and gave it a squeeze.

Said brunette smiled at him. "Thank you."

Yami mumbled a 'come on' and pulled Seto up with him as he stood up. He then led the two of them down the hall into the guest bedroom. He then gestured for Seto to sit on the bed, and closed the door behind them.

"Seto, you're not telling me something. I need you to explain about that rag, and why… why sex is such a touchy issue for you if it's not about this," the Pharaoh explained calmly.

Seto looked up at him.

"What makes you think there's more to this incident than I'm letting on?" he asked now, taking on a defensive tone.

Yami sighed and walked to the bed to plop down next to Seto. "Because I have known you for four years… four years! And never in all that time have I seen you so shaken up. There has to be something more to it," he replied.

Seto looked down at his hands in his lap. "Yami, did it not occur to you that this was possibly just the straw that broke the camel's back?" he asked softly.

Yami looked startled. "What?"

"All my life, I have had to be in control – involuntarily. I know that sounds weird, because usually it's good to be in control, but I've learned to hate it. I hate that I never got to have a childhood because I was fathering Mokuba, not that I blame him at all of course, I hate that I have to control this GIANT corporation and all of it's employees at such a young age. I hate that even when I try to relax, and just do stupid stuff, like go see a random movie even though I don't know what it's about or something like that, everything has to be up to me. Which movie, which theater, where we sit, what we eat… blah blah blah," Seto explained.

Yami thought for a few moments. "So then… you want someone else to control you?"

"No, well… I don't want people raping me, if that's what you're asking. But I do want someone to… I don't know how to say it," he trailed off.

"Come on, this is me – you can tell me," Yami ushered.

"I want… I want someone to take care of me. Just love me for me, I know that sounds off-topic and cheesy – but I swear it all goes together!"

Yami smiled. "You know, we all love you for you,"

"How can you? You don't even know me."

"I know you."

Seto sighed at this. "You… you know me better than anyone, except Mokuba. But you don't know everything."

"Will you tell me?" Yami asked, almost excitedly.

"In time Yami, in time."

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

BEJ: I'm soooooooooo sorry that this is so short! Yesterday when I started typing this my comp. Was fine, but today WORD is being a bitch and restarting my computer so I gotta get off. I PROMISE that I will finish this (b/c it really sucks) before next weekend. I gotta fix this friggin' comp. PLEASE REVIEW!


	9. The Plot Thickens

BEJ: WHOA THE JAMMYS UP-DATED! Ok… so that took a lot longer than it should have. I apologize – but I fcking hate Microsoft word – the thing wouldn't save anything. So like… I started this chapter what… two weeks ago? And it deleted it! I hate it! And, it deleted my entire newspaper article… insert a growl here

Anyhoo, I'm posting my MySpace url on my profile, because there are still people e-mailing me asking for it. And I will add you – some people are already my friends on there from fanfiction – and it's so cool!

Now, onto other matters, I'm thinking of writing a GX fic, b/c frankly I have fallen in love with it also. And I'm trying to figure out which couple it should be, it will definitely be uke Chazz… or Manjyome if you will but I'm trying to figure out who the seme should be. I like Jaden and Zane… prolly not Atticus or Bastion, because I'm not a big fan of them – but let me know what y'all think please!  But there's more, you see, I don't know everything about Chazz's past (parents, friends, etc.) so if anyone knows anything helpful… it's always appreciated, but I'm probably going to end up making up a bunch of crap anyway.

So expect that soon!

Enjoy!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So Kaiba, what time are you going to leave?" Joey asked thickly as small bits of undigested food flew out of his mouth. That's right – he's an attractive eater.

Seto refused to look at his, to save himself from nausea, but gave a small 'huff' before responding. "Fairly soon, I'm sure that Mokuba is worried about me. He's not used to being alone overnight."

Joey snorted and some more food flew out. As he fought to swallow what remained he shook the hair out of his eyes and tried waving his hands to grab Seto's attention again. "But don't you go on business trips all the time?" he asked with a poke to the CEO's arm.

Seto scowled and slapped Joey's hand away. "Don't poke me. And he always comes with me, he says he wants to travel, and he already knows all the material that they teach in school so it's not a big deal if he misses a few days," Seto explained.

Joey frowned. "How is it that both of you know everything? Were you home schooled by like… Albert Einstein's descendants or something?"

This time, everyone in the room turned to frown at Joey. Why was he so stupid?

Seto gave an exasperated sigh. "No Joey, we're both just smart."

Yami smirked. He quite liked having an excuse to look at Seto, so he hoped that their conversation wasn't over. Ah… his pretty blue eyes. He was encouraged by their little talk earlier; Seto had practically said that they could talk more! Was that like – admitting they were friends? All this uncertainty! Oh well, he would get some clarification later; everything was just going to have to wait though. Seto was calling the shots here, and Yami didn't mind that at all.

Insert Small Scene Change Here, IN THE KAIBA HOUSEHOLD!

Mokuba was running around his mansion frantically, where was it! He was sure that he'd thrown it away… he was almost positive – but when he went to throw his gum away, he didn't see it in the trash any longer, and he knew that the maid's hadn't taken out the trash… Oh Lord… where was it!

If Seto came home and saw it… he would lose it, Mokuba knew he would. Why did these people have to be so mean, where were there souls? They were pure evil, the younger Kaiba was sure of that. Seto had once told him long ago that evil lies in people's souls, but it's all born from hate, confusion and anger that resides in their hearts. Well, these people definitely had a lot of HATE and ANGER, because they were pure EVIL!

He gave an exasperated (A/N: I like this word…) sigh as he threw the pillows off of the living room couch. It had to be here somewhere! But, he realized as he tore the last cushion off, it wasn't here.

He plopped down on the couch and wiped some sweat off of his forehead. He decided to do one of those 'reason' checks. First of all, he knew he had thrown it away. Second, who would dig in the trashcan to take it out? Third, he hadn't actually asked any of the maids if it was possible that they had taken out the trash… that was where he would go next. Consult the maids.

After all, he was just worried about Seto.

Another scene change back to the Mutou household

Seto has just left

Yami's all depressed

"I'm all depressed," Yami whined.

Just kidding.

Seriously – Yami is outside saying goodbye to Seto

Yami sighed as he placed his hand (with difficulty) on the brunette's shoulder. "Are you sure you're going to be ok, I think I should walk you home just to make sure no-"

"No, Yami," Seto interrupted. "I can take care of myself… and I'm carrying a taser, so I should be fine," he replied, a small hint of INSANITY creeping into his eyes. (Thought of tasers, ne?)

Yami smiled and removed his hand so the brunette could move. "Well then, good luck, and call me when you get home so I know you're ok."

Seto rolled his eyes. "Whatever Yami, you're not my mom."

"I could be."

"How would that even work?"

"This conversation is turning disturbing."

"I agree – goodbye, Yami."

And with that – Seto walked off of the Mutou's property in the direction of his own home.

YET ANOTHER SCENE CHANGE!

"So are we going to do it again?" a small and skinny pale boy asked, calling out from the darkened corner of the dimly lit room. His voice shook with insecurity, even though he knew he was powerful, his friend's just needed some convincing.

"Of course we're going to do it again!" another, older boy with greasy black hair and a beanie trying to cover it, shouted back. He stood up to his full 6'4, his massive shoulders giving him an eerie look, with the faint light behind him. "Who do you think gave that tape to the announcements, hmm? It was he! He planned this! He wanted to whole school to pity him so that he could get more famous, just look – people are already calling up TV stations and tabloids! He did this as a marketing scheme, he probably planned the whole thing!" he spat.

"How exactly would that work? It seems like we planned this, otherwise we needn't have spent so many hours trying to devise a plan to make it all happen now would we? No, someone stole that tape, that's why we couldn't find it. Someone else knew what we did to him, and someone saw it happening, there's no other way they could know that we had a tape," replied the third and final boy in the room. He was the oldest of the three, and easily the creepiest. He was skinny and pale, but he wasn't like the first boy, no. This boy looked dangerous, he had a gleam in his eye that could only be found in murderers and _rapists._ "Now what I want to know, is where the tape is now. Surely the school didn't keep it, and I highly doubt that our sweet little victim would want it in his home. So before we plan anything else, we need to plan to get that tape back from whoever has it. Then, we'll strike again," he paused. "And who knows? Maybe we could make it more fun this time… get a couple more little toys?"

With that, all three boys grinned evilly and began laughing manically.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

BEJ: Well – there you go! THE PLOT THICKENS! If you couldn't figure out who those three boys were at the end… then that makes me really sad. But yeah! So thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, add me as a friend on MySpace… and until next time – PLEASE REVIEW! Oh no one more thing – this chapter is short for a reason, I cut it off there for a reason, the next one or the one after that (depends on how I want this to work out) will be VERY long.


	10. Nothing to Do With the Cold

BEJ: Hola… So it's been a while? I won't bother with excuses, point is – I'm lazy. But I'm glad to be back! We're on winter break right now, so if I get some enthusiastic responses then I might just update again before the break is over.

I know you're all painfully curious to know what's going on in my life. I'm afraid you'd be disappointed with the answer though, so it's better if we don't explore behind that door.

I've gone back and reread this story (it's actually quite bad), and I noticed that I don't pay attention to small details… so if this story doesn't make any sense whatsoever – it's because I go off on so many random tangents. I allude to things that I have absolutely no intention of fulfilling because I have no idea what I was talking about.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this, even though I haven't written in a year and am a little out of funk…

Happy Holidays!

* * *

Yami had been sitting by the phone ever since Seto left, waiting for it to ring. Yugi came in from the kitchen to the living room where Yami was, and gave him a look.

"Staring at the phone isn't going to make him call faster," he pointed out, his voice dripping with an, 'I-Told-You-So' tone. So what if Yugi had been right about how Yami felt about Kaiba. So damn what.

Yami scowled at the younger boy and waved him away. "If all you've come to do is mock me then leave me be. At least I'm sitting by the phone for a noble cause – one that you put me up to I might add."

The smaller boy smiled at him. He possessed a smile that could have melted the all the snow in Domino, forget Domino – he could melt the polar ice caps and cause that global flood that all the Democrats were worried about. That was when Yami realized the true problem behind Global Warming: Yugi Mutou. He leaned over and gave Yami a pat on the shoulder, and then looked at him for a minute before standing back and saying softly, "You looked happy, you know?"

Yami blinked at him. "What?"

Yugi smiled again. "He made you happy," he replied just as softly before turning on his tiny heel and walking back into the kitchen, where the rest of his friends sat waiting for him.

Yami sat there taking in what Yugi had said. That wasn't really a secret that Seto made him happy. It was just the way Yugi had said it that made Yami stop and think. All his life he had been plagued with questions about everything. Yami came into this world before everybody else, but he came late into their lives. When he became a part of Yugi, he knew about what ancient Egypt was like, he knew how to win a duel, how to rule a court, but did he know what it meant to have a significant other? Did he know what it meant to have friends that you could spend weekends with? What it was like to go to school, and surround yourself with people that you were raised to believe were exactly like you, but also that you were supposed to be unique. No, the Pharaoh had experienced none of this. It was because of his lack of awareness, that he had always harbored a sadness that was left unattended. Yami didn't even know it was there. But Yugi, being the insightful little beaver that he is, was always quick to point out to his other half that he looked downtrodden, that he never smiled, that he might want to look into therapy or a hooker. For four years he had lived like that, and then one day with Seto, and all of the sudden – he was happy.

The phone rang then – and Yami realized that he had pounced on it. "Hello?" he asked frantically as he held the piece of plastic to his face as though it would deliver the word of God himself.

He heard a snicker on the other end. "Anxious much? What, were you sitting by the phone waiting for me to call," came Seto's daunting voice that Yami so desperately craved to hear.

The game king breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Seto was all right, and smiled. "For your information, I waited a few rings before I decided that I could be bothered to answer the phone at all. So there."

He heard Seto smirk again. "Well then perhaps I should just stop calling, if I'm such an inconvenience to your lounge time."

Yami blanched for a minute, not noting exactly how sarcastic Seto was being. "No no, don't do that, you're not an inconvenience…"

"I know."

Yami breathed another sigh of relief and laid back on the couch, relaxing himself, and preparing for a phone conversation. "So you got home safely?"

Seto coughed a little (Yami knew he was sick) and then said in an almost exasperated tone, "Actually I went straight to work, I have a lot to make up from these past two days."

"You can't take some time off? Come on Seto, you sound sick."

Kaiba snorted. "I _did_ take time off, that's what that little sleepover was. I need to get some work done and forget about all of the business that's happened over these past couple of days, which reminds me, we need to clarify something before I go."

Yami's heart sank a little. "Oh?"

"I understand that I acted pretty out of character, and I put myself in a very vulnerable position with you and your friends, but don't expect that to happen again. I had a temporary lapse of judgment because I was upset, but I've come back to my senses and I can't be doing things like 'Spin the bottle' or 'Truth or Dare' anymore, okay?"

Yami didn't know what Seto was getting at. "So are we friends or not?" he asked.

Seto paused for a moment before answering. "You and I are friends… but right now that's all I'm agreeing to."

Yami smiled and felt his heart warm a little. "That's good enough for me. So, since we're friends, can we hang out later?" he asked, perhaps a little too anxiously.

"No, Yami! I have to get my work done, and I haven't had dinner with Mokuba in days, and he still comes first."

"Oh… we perhaps tomorrow?"

Seto sighed. "I'll see what I can do, Yami."

"Good enough. Will you call me when you get some free time?"

Another pause. "Sure."

"Alright then, talk to you later Seto."

"Goodbye, Yami."

* * *

Seto sighed as he took his glasses off and leaned back in his chair. It was about ten o'clock at night, he had been working for several hours straight, and he was late for dinner with his brother. He glanced at his computer, it was still saving his work, and then to the clock.

Yup, 10:07.

He leaned over to his phone and beeped for his secretary.

"Yes Mr. Kaiba?" came her obnoxiously plastic voice.

Seto growled. "Get my driver and tell him I'll be leaving in a few minutes."

"Of course, Mr. Kaiba," she said with just as sweet and fake a tone.

Seto sighed and rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe how unusual these past two days had been. He had been raped, revealed and revered by his rival, nothing particularly out of the ordinary, but they all happened at once. He hadn't really addressed his feelings about being raped… because that wasn't something new to him. But never before had people found out about it, much less his entire high school and janitorial staff. More than anything though, he could not believe the reaction he got from Yugi and his friends. Instead of turning away from him disgusted, they opened their arms and asked to be his friend. He had never known people like that.

Especially Yami.

He smiled unconsciously at the though of his rival. How he insisted on walking Seto home, and that he would call him to make sure he was safe. Yami really cared about him, it was nice. Seto had never felt loved before, he was sure that at one point his birth parents gave a crap about him, but he couldn't remember them. And sure, there was Mokuba, but the love he got from Mokuba became mechanic. Granted, he lived for it, and most of the time it was all that kept him going, but it was so familiar, and so used, that it was no wonder Seto was excited by the thought of someone new loving him.

The most exciting part however, was that Seto thought he might like him back. There was no doubt that Yami cared for Seto in ways that Mokuba did not, ways that his brother should not. The way the Pharaoh looked at him, touched him, kissed him…

The brunette stood up and grabbed his coat as he made his way toward the door to go home. As he put his coat on he caught a whiff of the smell of Yugi's house… Yami's house. Seto gave a small shiver of delight and didn't even notice the pink tinge to his cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold.

* * *

BEJ: Short? Yes, but it's something. 

Please review, all that jazz. Happy Holidays everyone!


End file.
